Category: Interiors

Even just approaching Sarah Dinwiddy’s beautiful home you can tell the inside is going to be special. Her look combines an innate sense of style, clever tricks, and plenty of beautiful, seasonal flowers supplied by London florists Whispers & Snippets

No surprise, then, that The English Home snapped up this property, which was photographed by Colin Poole.

Her home is so like its owner; warm, stylish, with an eye for the unexpected and the unusual. I really enjoyed meeting Emma Smith, whose home is in Topsham, the chic, riverside town near Exeter in Devon where she co-owns Lark, a beautiful lifestyle store.

I love the way she has created a tiny en-suite behind the guest bedroom and her cheerful acceptance of what life is like with teenage boys, especially of the rugby-loving sort!

You can read all about her and her home in the September 2017 edition of Your Home magazine and buy many of this items that make it so beautiful here.

I spotted Karen’s blog The White Approach while researching something else and was knocked out by everything she has achieved – on an unashamed shoestring – in her beautiful Exeter home. Her philosophy is that you can transform anything with the colour white, which you can read about here: Ideal Home Karen Jones After seeing her stunning home, I have to agree!

I came across Julie Stevens’ wonderful brocante store, Grey To Green Home, at a Dorset emporium when I was on my way to another interview. After tracking her down (and buying one of her oyster baskets), I persuaded her to let me write about her home. There is something about her way of putting a look together that I can’t help but admire. Books in jars shouldn’t work – but they do. And how.

Local authorities are always getting stick for making cutbacks. But Eastleigh Borough Council in Hampshire deserves all the praise I’ve heaped on it for instigating and supporting this initiative – funding craft and design units in the town’s former Post Office backroom. This place has received praise from design guru Wayne Hemingway and no wonder – it’s the perfect example of what every local authority should be doing and I was delighted to bring it to further public attention in Hampshire Life magazine’s March 2017 issue.

Lucienne Day is one of the greatest designers this country has ever produced. This year would have been her 100th birthday. When I learned that she and her husband, Robin, were design consultants to the John Lewis Partnership it seemed the perfect story for Waitrose Weekend. See if you agree!